Chapter 109
Axel
The thing lunges and I move without thinking.
My body shifts into my chocolate wolf when I jump, bones snapping, muscles reforming. I throw myself between Elvira and the creature just when it slams through the entrance like smoke wrapped in bone.
We hit the cave wall. Pain explodes over my ribs, but I barely feel it. I’m already burying my teeth into the thing’s body.
Die, die, die!
Wait.
Why are my teeth meeting nothing?!
If it has bones, I can’t find them. It’s like biting mist and steel at once. But I keep going. Because Elvira is behind me and she needs my protection.
But the creature won’t go down.
It hisses, no, laughs, and claws rake across my shoulder.
I roar. I grab its arm with my jaws and twist until something snaps.
It screams.
Good.
Because I’m done playing games and this creature don’t
I get to have her!
I slam the thing into the wall with every ounce of strength I have. It bursts into smoke, dissolving, shrieking, and then it’s gone.
Gone, but not dead.
It will return.
1 pant, blood dripping down my side. The cave is quiet so I turn with a whine.
Mate?
Elvira is on the ground, eyes wide. Blind, but wide. I can see the confusion and fear swimming in them, even though they can’t see me.
I turn back into a human. “I’m here,” I say, crouching beside her. My hand touches her arm. She is freezing again. “You’re cold.”
“I am,” she agrees and then her fingers brush my y jaw, like she is not certain I’m real.
“I’m here,” I tell her.
“I’m glad.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, voice low.
She nods, small. “Was that a monster?”
I want to lie. I don’t.
“Yes.”
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Chapter 109
“Did it… Did it touch you?”
“Not enough to hurt me.”
She lets out a breath. “I heard you shift. I heard you fight.”
Is that…worry in her tofie?
Fuck, it is!
I pull her into my lap before I can think better of it. She fumbles slightly, clearly disoriented. Blind. Vulnerable. My mate was concerned about me, it hits me again like a blow to the chest.
She likes me!
The bond burns through me in hot, possessive waves. I can feel it in my chest, in my spine, buzzing under my skin like wildfire.
But now isn’t the time to celebrate. Elvira is still shaking and needs hugs.
“Schh,” I whisper. “No need to be shaking anymore. I’m here.”
“I’m not shaking because I’m afraid.”
“…no?”
“No.”
“Then why…?”
“You protected me.”
“Of course I did.”
She leans against my chest. Her hands tremble. I wrap my arms around her and don’t let go.
“I didn’t expect you would. I… I thought I was going to die,” she whispers.
“I wasn’t going to let it hurt you.”
“I know, but…”
“But what?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay…?”
I don’t want to let it go, but her breathing is uneven. I hold her tighter, try to soothe her. It seems to work, but there’s a catch: I’m liking Fuck. If only she knew how many times I’ve imagined holding her like this, she would either run or never let go.
> much.
There was a time I thought I wouldn’t get this. That someone like me didn’t get softness. That mates were for wolves who weren’t broken. But now she is here and asking to be held like I’m not a curse and I swear, I will never take this for granted.
She pulls back slightly. Her blind eyes search for something.
“I want…” she starts, then falters.
“What?”
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“I want something real before the next thing comes.”
I know what she means. Not sex. Not yet. But closeness. Contact. Proof that she is alive. That I’m here and that we are mates.
And so I don’t speak.
! kiss her.
Soft at first. A whisper. A question.
She answers it.
Her lips move against mine, cautious, trembling, and I pour everything into the kiss, fear, devotion, need. Kissing her is like handing my soul over and daring her not to drop it. Her hands find my shoulders. She clutches me like I’m the only thing tethering her to this world.
I kiss her deeper.
And gods, the way she sighs into it…
My hands are careful when I touch her. One to her waist, one to her cheek. Her skin is soft. Her lips part. And I swear I could stay in this moment forever.
Because I want her in every way that matters. Not just body. Not just bed. I want her mornings. Her fury. Her faith in me.
She gasps faintly as my fingers trace the curve of her side, her body reacting instinctively.
But then-
“S–stop…”
I freeze. “Why?”
“Because I don’t deserve this.” Her voice trembles. “I don’t deserve you.”
My chest aches. Of course that’s what she is thinking.
“Elvira…” I touch her face, tilt her chin up. “You are mine. The bond chose us. I don’t care what you think you deserve. I care that you’re here. With me.”
She starts to shake her head, but I hurry to interrupt her before she spirals.
“You’re not the girl you were,” I whisper. “And even if you were, I would still want you. Because the bond doesn’t lie. And neither do I.”
She exhales, fragile. Her hands clutch my shirt like she is trying not to fall apart.
“I… I don’t know what is happening, Axel.”
“I do and the answer? The answer is that we are falling in love, but not the safe way. I shouldn’t be falling for you this fast,” I murmur. “We are opposites. We argue. You’re a pain in the ass. But your soft skin, your scent…it pulls me in like a drug.”
She lets out a tiny, disbelieving laugh. “So you want me because of lust?”
“What? No!”
“No?”
“Well… I do think you’re pretty, but there are other reasons too.”
She snorts, which frustrates me.
“I’m serious,” I whisper. “You’re mine for more than one reason, Elvira. Whether you see it or not.”
Chapter 109
“See it or not, huh?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. “Too early?”
“A little.”
We share a chuckle, then she looks deeply into my eyes.
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“You’re not.”
She reaches for my hand. Laces our fingers.
“Then stay. All night.”
“Always.”
And we lie there. Face to face. Hands still joined. Hearts thundering.
No more words. Just breath. Skin. Silence.
Until her hand drifts lower.
And I forget how to breathe.
If she knew how badly I want her, how I dream about this exact moment every night, she’d never believe me. But it’s real. She’s real. And she’s here.
And I’m never letting her go.
I don’t know if she’ll remember this the way I will. But for me, this is the moment everything shifted. The moment her lips touched mine, and I stopped being just a protector and started becoming hers.
“Axel?”
“Mhmm…?”
“If my vision doesn’t return… what then?”
“What do you mean?”
“How will I hunt?”
“Oh… Umm… You could rely on human food?”
“Sure, but… That won’t keep my wolf happy. She is going to miss the hunt and the feeling of the wind in my face when I chase game.”
“Fuck! Right… I could… Fence this area around Azriel’s mansion, secure it with pillows and release chickens? That way your head wouldn’t hurt if you ran
into the fence.”
She snorts. “You’re ridiculous.”
“… Thank you?”
She lifts her blind eyes to mine. They are too cloudy to see the pupils, but it’s her lips that I’m looking at.
They have shaped a sweet smile.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
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12:06 Thu 24 Out Q & G
Chapter 109
I blink. “For?”
She rolls her eyes, and I genuinely have no idea why she is thanking me. Is it because I killed that monster? It must be, but that’s silly she shouldn’t have
to-
My thoughts are interrupted by Elvira coming closer and closer until her breath is on my face. She is inches from me and still smiling like long the moon. and the stars.
“This is for saving me earlier.”
She leans in and kisses me. But you might as well call it spellcasting. I forget the world, especially when I feel her hands on my chest, pressing as if it would somehow give her a better taste of my mouth. Her tongue mingles with mine, and my next breath gets swallowed by her mouth.
This kiss isn’t desperate. It’s claiming. Slow and reverent and laced with
mething that feels dangerously close to devotion.
My heart’s racing. My bond is howling. My whole body
screams
to
deepen it.
But all I do is pull her closer and kiss her like she’s home.
Because in this moment, she is.
I don’t know what comes next. The world’s still out there. The mist still lingers.
But if I get to face it with her like this then maybe I’ve already
won,
AD
